Presently, network bandwidth measurements are calculated by transmitting artificial test packets across the network link. These artificial test packets present a number of problems for the link being measured. One problem is that test packets add additional traffic across the link.
In addition to the test packets being transmitted, “start test” and “stop test” packets must be transmitted across the link. These packets are used to inform a receiving terminal that the next burst of packets is for bandwidth testing purposes. These packets, as with the test packets, also create additional traffic across the link.
Additionally, current bandwidth testing techniques do not produce complexly accurate results. The test packets add to the traffic across the link which can introduce artificial delays. Also, because bandwidth changes over time, a single test burst of packets is not necessarily an accurate reflection of the link's bandwidth (i.e. at the time of the test burst congestion on the link was abnormally high or low). Consequently, the test must be run repeatedly to reflect the bandwidth changes which is not always possible and/or practical.